Bear Taylor 
RIPPLE SALVO… GET HAPPY… but first…
Good Morning: Day FIFTY-ONE of reflecting back to Operation Rolling Thunder…the “air war” fifty years ago…
22 APRIL 1966 (NYT)… ON THE HOMEFRONT… New York, fair and 64…Page 1: “Big Battle Rages in South Vietnam, First Since Crisis”…U.S. and Saigon units fight regimental size force near the site of unrest 340 miles north of Saigon and south of Danang. NVN casualties include 189 dead. This was the first major battle in 27 days… B-52s attacked the Viet Cong outside of Saigon… “Jets Again Raid North”… The Air Force and Navy flew 48 missions with the AF attacking bridges and storage in the lower packs and the Navy attacking coastal shipping. The Air Force also destroyed a radio station and a hundred buildings 48 miles southeast of Die Bien Phu… Also page 1: “Prices Rise Again; Concern Growing”… and… “Booster Pump Used After Heart Surgery,” in Houston. The patient, Marcel De Rudder from Wellsville, Illinois, received the first mechanical heart and doctors declared that the event gives great hope to the more than 900,00 heart disease patients diagnosed every year….
Center of page 1: Large photograph of LBJ awarding the Medal of Honor to the father of PFC Milton Olive (KIA) on 21 April. The President took the occasion to say…
“In moments such as this I am reminded all over again how brave the young are, and how great is our debt to them, and how endless is the sacrifice that we call on them to make for us. I realize too, how highly we prize freedom when we send our young to die for it. There are times where Vietnam must seem to many people a thousand contradictions, and the pursuit of freedom there an almost impossible dream. But there are also times–and this is one of them– when the mist of confusion lifts and the basic principles appear… and that the normal processes, if we give them time to work, will produce a society that will work for the people. South Vietnam, however young and frail, has the right to develop as a nation free of interference from any other power no matter how mighty or strong… the United States is in South Vietnam to resist that aggression and to permit peaceful change to work its way. We seek to be a good and reliable ally, a dependable and trustworthy friend and always a genuine and sincere servant of the people.”
Page 2: “Total Death Toll Above 3,000″…and an article in which the Department of Defense reported that 89 American troops were killed in action last week. Also, that the total American death toll in the Vietnam War since 1 January 1961 had reached 3,047 and was now at the rate of 100 per week. KIA-1965= 1,365 and to date in 1966 (3 1/2 mos)= 1,427. Vietcong and NVN KIA put at 35,000 through 1965 and to date in 1966= 13,000… On page 16: “Fulbright Warns of Peril of Power,” and says the critics of the Vietnam War deserve the nation’s respect. “The most valuable public servant is he who is willing to criticize as well as comply.”…Also, a “Man in the News” article focused on one of the demonstrators, who the day before had been carried “kicking and screaming” from the American Ambassador’s offices in Saigon to an awaiting Pan Am flight and returned to the United States. Reverend A.D. Muster’s record of civil disobedience and passionate objection to paying his taxes (“to purchase armaments”) was detailed. His life time civil disobedience record included stints in Red Square, Times Square and the White House lawn…
Page 40: James Reston’s column, “The Mystery of McNamara.” Opening sentence: “Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara is a puzzle.”… “He appeals to everybody. The President is attracted to both his facts and his idealism. The Congress resents his assurance, but doesn’t know what to do about it. The Joint Chiefs of Staff hate his challenge to their tradition, but dare not oppose him publicly. The press is troubled about him, especially when he loses his temper, but they are not worried about his efficiency. They are worried about his power and his judgment.”
22 APRIL 1966… ROLLING THUNDER… A Vietcong mortar attack on the flight line at Pleiku destroyed two A-1H aircraft and damaged eleven others. Seventy-nine mortar rounds did the damage. Five Americans were wounded in the early morning attack… The Air Force lost their seventh RF-101 of the air war. MAJOR ALLAN LESLIE BRUNSTORM from the 20th TRS based at Ton Son Nhut was shot down on a photo mission, his 115th combat mission, 50 miles northeast of Hanoi. He was able to eject but was captured and imprisoned for the war. He was returned to the United States on 12 February 1973… VA-85 embarked in USS Kitty Hawk lost their third A-6A in April when LCDR ROBERT FRANKLIN WEIMORTS and LTJG WILLIAM BREWSTER NICKERSON inexplicable descended from 10,000 feet and flew into the water while conducting an Iron Hand anti-SAM mission supporting a strike on a target near Vinh. They were Killed in Action…
CAPTAIN CHARLES GRAHAM BOYD, piloting an F-105D from the 421st TFS based at Korat, was shot down while attacking a SAM site 35 miles northwest of Hanoi. He ejected from his burning aircraft and was captured almost immediately. He spent the rest of the war as a prisoner of the North Vietnamese. He was on his 105th combat mission when shot down bfy AAA near the SAM site… CAPTAIN BOYD was returned to the United States on 12 February 1973 and resumed his Air Force career attaining the rank of General, the only POW to reach Four Stars….oohrah… See “Mighty Thunder” comment…
RIPPLE SALVO… HAPPINESS FORMULA… “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” are familiar words to all Americans, or should be. And practically every writer of books, essays or poems has advanced his or her formula for attaining happiness. I have been collecting their advice for decades and now hoard a full shelf of their cumulative product. Good stuff. Also, overkill. Here is the essential formula for a great day and a great life…(1) Get a good cause, (2) work at it a little or a lot every day, and (3) while you at it say something or do something NICE for somebody else. Period. Works every time, every day… ROLLING THUNDER warriors and their supporting cast of tens of thousands had a good cause, worked at it every day (and night) and in so doing knew they were doing something nice for lots of people, bad guys not included. As a consequence, more than 80% of the troops and almost 100% of the aviators returning from the Vietnam War expressed satisfaction with their service and said they would do it again.
Get a good cause, work at it, and do something nice for somebody else. And that’s the segue to this: This ROLLING THUNDER REMEMBERED blog is your opportunity to “do something nice for somebody else.” Most of the readers, you, are old warriors who flew in the “air war’ against North Vietnam, and you have vivid memories of your most exciting missions and the mates who shared the dangerous experiences you count among your cherished memories of the one life you have on earth. What I call on you to do, is devote a few minutes or as long as it takes to record and share with this blog, a story expressing your appreciation, admiration and/or respect for another human being who made a difference in your life during the “air war” era… I assure you, the act of a pat on the back, has the same affect on humans, both the giver and the receiver, as the pat on the head or back of the family dog. Tails wag and grins grow. Get happy. Write a few words for posterity that come from the heart and tell that old skipper, young wingman, savvy flight leader, rescuer, roommate, or tried and true friend how much you admire, respect and appreciate, maybe even love, him or her. This website offers you an opportunity to get happy… take it… (You ain’t getting any younger, old warrior… “git ‘er done)…
Oh, by the way, did you notice that the same B-52s dropping bombs on ISIS in Iraq today were the same B-52s bombing the Vietcong and NVN troops in South Vietnam FIFTY YEARS AGO TODAY. Could there be a grandson out there doing what his grandpa did fifty years ago in the same Buff?….
Lest we forget…. Bear …………………. –30– …………………..
